On-loan Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun scored a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser for Reims against 10-man Paris St-Germain. The result means PSG miss the opportunity to open up a five-point lead over Lens at the top of Ligue 1.
Neymar had opened the scoring for PSG who then had midfielder Marco Verratti sent off. Balogun’s equaliser arrived in the 96th minute to extend Reims’ unbeaten run to 14 games in all competitions.
The England under-21 international has now scored 11 goals in Ligue 1 this season, the most of any player aged 21 or under in Europe’s big five leagues.
This will the first time since the World Cup that PSG started Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar for the first time, but they could not reverse the lack of form that PSG is in.
PSG have now dropped points in three of their four league games in 2023 and their form will be a concern with the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern Munich just over two weeks away.
“At the moment, far too many players are not at their level,” said a disappointed and frustrated PSG coach Christophe Galtier.
“We cannot be satisfied with our game and our results. There will be decisions to be made to find a much more solid team, which looks like a top team. We have to recreate competition because we have fallen into a comfort zone.”
Lens held at Troyes
Lens were held to a 1-1 draw against Troyes at the Stade de l’Aube.
Yasser Larouci’s low-driven effort handed Troyes a shock lead (50′) but new signing Adrien Thomasson rescued a point two-minutes from time to extend Lens’ unbeaten league run to ten games.
“I’m pleased that we didn’t lose the game and how we went in search of the equaliser,” said Lens coach Franck Haise.
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t take three points from a match that we dominated. We did a lot of things very well, but we need more accuracy and precision in the final third.”
Points shared at the Velodrome
Alexis Sanchez’s close range effort salvaged a point for Marseille in a 1-1 draw at home to Monaco.
Jordan Veretout spectacularly headed into his own net to give Monaco a 17th-minute lead but the Chilean came to OM’s rescue, firing in an equaliser two-minutes after the interval.
